Ritchie De Laet

Ritchie de Laet is a versatile defender for Manchester United.

With the pace, technical ability and positional awareness to enable him to play anywhere across the back four, he has been an asset for United since his arrival in January 2009 and has appeared at right back, left back and in the centre of defence in his handful of appearances so for the first team so far.

The Belgian youngster is most at home at centre back and has typically played there for the club's reserve team, for whom he earned Player of the Year honours in 2010.

A product of United's Belgian feeder club Royal Antwerp, Ritchie moved to England with Stoke City in 2007 but injuries caused his career to stall.

Many were surprised when United signed the young Belgian on a short-term deal midway through the 2008-09 season, but the coaches were aware of his quality from his time at Antwerp and their faith has paid off with Ritchie's progress, which saw him impress in a series of loans in 2010-11 with Sheffield United, Preston North End and Portsmouth.

A regular member of the Belgium U21 side, Ritchie also picked up two senior caps for his country in the 2009 Kirin Cup in Japan. In the summer of 2011 he joined Norwich City in a season-long loan deal.

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